In a village in southeastern Turkey recently, a vehicle transporting individuals to work struck a land mine. Five people were killed and another ten were injured. A few weeks before, in Azerbaijan, a bus ran over a mine killing fourteen. Before that, in Croatia, two nurses suffered severe injury when their truck rolled over a mine while evacuating the wounded from a battle.
International statistics on deaths caused by land mines are not kept. It has been estimated, however, that sixty Cambodians per month die or lose limbs. In the fourteen-year Afghanistan war approximately two hundred thousand people, primarily civilians, died as a result of mine explosions. An additional four hundred thousand were injured. Mines laid more than a quarter of a century ago by U.S. soldiers still injure Vietnamese and Laotians periodically.
In addition to U.S. firms, thirty-five countries around the world host companies which produce explosive land mines. Spain, Italy, and Greece produce the SB-33 antipersonnel mine, a light-weight explosive that can be strewn from the air or individually buried. The former Soviet Union produced a somewhat larger mine that when activated by the foot, or other pressure, jumps five to eight feet above the ground surface and sends shrapnel into people's bodies. Those in the trade refer to these mines as "Bouncing Bettys."
A decade ago, the United States signed a United Nations protocol prohibiting or restricting the use of certain conventional weapons including land mines. Unfortunately, the Senate has failed to ratify the protocol and the Executive Branch has not pressed the matter. Land mines continue to be manufactured in the U.S. and elsewhere.
It can be argued that land mines serve an essential military purpose during times of war. Such mines neutralize an opponent's ground support capabilities. These devices, buried below the ground's surface avoiding ready detection, explode violently when triggered. The explosive force of some mines is so great that a heavily armored and fortified tank may be destroyed. In this way enemy movement is hampered or altogether halted.
It is essential once wartime activities cease, that mines be cleared from the field to prevent civilian casualties. Various systems have been developed to detect and remove land mines, most are directed toward shunting aside mines to permit troop and vehicular movement during time of war. One such system utilizes a plow mounted on the front of a tank and driven through the soil to expose and sweep aside mines. These mine plows have been effective when combined with powerful, heavy tanks since their power and tractive ability easily propel the plow through roots, clay, or uneven terrain.
The standard mine plow has two separate blades for cutting the earth and exposing mines. These blades are generally oriented in V-shaped fashion at the front of a tank or other vehicle. When driven forward through the ground surface, two earthen berms are formed of spoil material pushed tangentially along the blades away from the path of the vehicle. The spoil material often contains mines and other unexploded ordinance which did not detonate upon contact with the plow.
While V-shaped blades provide adequate protection for a single vehicle so equipped, they are impractical for clearing large areas of mines and jagged metal shrapnel. In clearing large areas, the plow is usually systematically moved in parallel paths across the entirety of the target area. Without overlapping the paths by a minimum of one half of the V-shaped blades' overall width, one can not be assured that the area being cleared is indeed free of mines. Such an overlap prevents previously exposed berm material from being plowed back into the previously cleared area. Due to the inefficiency of the currently available mine clearing devices in eliminating mines from large areas, a need has arisen for a more efficient device.